Christo to Wrap Arc de Triomphe in 2020

From September 19 to October 4, 2020, for the first time since the death of his wife and artistic partner Jeanne-Claude in 2009, Christo is returning to their signature style with a new project: wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Christo announced on Wednesday that he had received permission from the French government and the country’s Center for National Monuments to wrap the Arc de Triomphe, one of the most famous landmarks in Paris, in 270,000 square feet of a silvery blue recyclable polypropylene fabric, held together with nearly 23,000 feet of red rope.

The project, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (Project for Paris, Place de l’Étoile-Charles de Gaulle), will coincide with an exhibition at the Pompidou Center that looks back on Jeanne-Claude and Christo’s early years in Paris. The exhibition will include drawings, documentation and more related to another of their famous works, The Pont-Neuf Wrapped, Project for Paris, 1975-85.